Valentine's Sorrow
by x3 Apolla
Summary: Every Valentine's Day an ancient curse falls over Destiny Islands, taking the lives of two starcrossed lovers. And as Valentine's Day comes around again, the people wonder, is this year the year? [Sora&Kairi :: Oneshot]


_Long ago, when Destiny Islands was first populated with only the few people that had ventured onto its luxurious shores, a small stone wishing-well was built. It was placed in the center of all the islands as a reminder on how lucky they were to have found such a beautiful place, and as the land grew, more people started turning Destiny Islands into the wondrous place it is today. People would often throw coins, doubloons- anything they considered precious-before they would make a wish before their offering fell to the well's bottom. _

_Of all the people on this island, one of the most beloved was a young woman named Kailysta, considered beautiful by her flawless porcelain skin, bright crystal blue eyes, and long auburn-red hair, she amazed people throughout the short years of her life by doing some of the simplest, yet strangest things. _

_She spend most of her time sitting by this well, nobody ever saw her throw anything into it, because she would only make her wishes at the stroke of midnight under a full moon. Many people often wondered if it were only an illusion by the way they would look upon her grace and beauty as she calmly sat by the well, never speaking to anyone who dared to go near her. She was always lost in her own world of thought and imagination, never coming outside of it until she was told to go home by the elders that ruled the island at that time. Some even tried to catch her in the act at night, wondering if she was indeed extraordinary or magical; they were always wondering if she anything different from the rest of the residents. Never did they catch anything paranormal, or something that was yet to be explained by the human mind, because she was far, far from any of their assumptions. _

It was all because of one man, she had grown up with him all her life, yet ever since their move to the islands, they never spoke to each other. Some say he was in love with someone else, others say he might've died on the journey and she was mourning the loss of him, wishing he would be brought back somehow, but it was never that. She simply fell in love at the wrong time, knowing that it would take more than grace and elegance to get this one man's attention, for what he, Sotiris he was called, wanted was something she could never figure out. This is why she wished for him so dearly every full moon, hoping that the legends of wishing wells would somehow come true for her.

Time came and passed, and still she had received no love from the man she so dearly wanted to be hers, for his attention was for another. Instead of wishing every full moon, she wept, and some say the moon wept with her, and the stars went out one by one with every tear that fell from her sad eyes.

Until the one night that she no longer appeared by the well, the island people were bewildered at the fact that this day had finally come. Many have knocked upon her door, but found no answer, and wandered the land to see if there was any evidence to see where the beauty of this island had gone.

It wasn't until Sotiris himself had found out about the news of his friend, and when he noticed a small glimmer of light shining off the top of the well. Knowing it could not have been anything on the well, for it was made of stone. He decided to see what it was, and to his surprise, it was Kailysta's silver locket that he had given her on Valentine's Day when they were children. As he held the cool metal in his hands, he looked inside, and saw a small piece of parchment tumble out, and he recognized the handwriting immediately.

**_Sotiris, _**

Years have passed since I had last spoken to you, or even had your name come off of my lips, and every day I'd sit here, waiting for the one wish I wanted so badly to come true.

Remember as children we'd pretend we were together, and sit underneath the moon and stars, promising each other that we'd never part? I'm sorry, I can't keep that promise, because every time I see you with her, I can't help but let another piece of my heart die.

The elders of the island will wonder what it'll be like without me sitting there each night by the full moon, but I can't help but wonder if you will too.

So here I lie, at the bottom of this well, letting my heart finally rest in peace, and never coming back to see you or anyone again in this life.

From now on, every generation on these islands there will one with my spirit and one with yours when you pass on, and they'll carry on this curse that will never be broken. Let it be known throughout the islands that with each coming child, they could be the next one to carry on this tragic tradition to have the same death and despair that I had bestowed upon this new land that we have come to settle in.

Until we meet again,

Kailysta 

_Ever since that frightful day, when young Kailysta had taken that fall into the well, taking her own life to start a curse to take away the others that will come after her. Generation after generation, the same fate that she had written took place repeatedly, and nobody ever tried to stop it, for they feared it would never end. Many lives had been taken by that well, and its popularity had decreased because of all the lost hopes and dreams that had taken place there. _

Though they were told that the curse could not be broken, there was only one way that it could, and that was to finally reunite the girl with her lover, and have them live forever in happiness and bliss, and the well will never have to take another life again.

But in all the years this curse has taken place, no two have ever gotten close to breaking it.

* * *

A young woman of the age of sixteen leaned back onto the dry sand facing the ocean's cerulean hues and white foam that crashed onto the shore not too far from where she was currently sitting. The hair on her head stuck closely to her skin from the mist and the sun's blaring heat, yet she enjoyed the sensation over any other feeling she was currently plagued with.

"And you call _me_ the lazy bum?" A spiky chestnut haired boy looked down on her, making her blush from his sudden appearance. She turned on her side, facing away from him, trying to get everything that was off her mind before she started talking to him; the last thing he needed to know was that she was having an absolutely miserable time on such a gorgeous afternoon.

He sat beside her, raising an eyebrow in question, waiting for any kind of response from her, to reassure himself that she wasn't mad at him or anyone for that matter. Not like she had a reason to anyway.

"So?" She whined, squinting from the sunlight as she faced him. She took her purple tinted sunglasses off the top of her head and placed them in front of her eyes so she could see him, and she grinned. "I could sit here all day if I felt like it. It's not like I do it often, unlike _someone_ I know."

The boy cocked his head to the side, and thought for a moment, "What day is it?" he asked, looking up towards the sky. She pondered for a moment, thinking of the days before she answered with "February tenth."

Four days until Valentine's Day.

Four days until she had to go through with the most hell-raising day of the year.

Four days, and he'll still never know she's in love with him.

She sighed and looked back towards the ocean, leaning back on her bent arms, wondering why men have been created so stupid and not have any idea whatsoever when a girl was in love with them.

"Oh." He said without expression, he knew the holiday was coming up too. And he had already planned on something special for another girl, one that he's kept nameless for weeks now.

Another thing to make her Valentine's Day even worse, the one she loves is in love with someone else.

She frowned at the thought of him being with some other girl who wasn't her, and will probably never be her; its probably never even went across his mind, the thought of them two together.

"What do you think of chocolate?" He asked, keeping his view straight to the ocean. She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "They're sweet." She said simply, that holiday was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

"Bears?"

"They're cute."

"Roses?"

"Those are nice."

"What color?"

"Why are you asking me this?" She said with a hint of frustration to her tone that he obviously didn't catch.

"I'm just curious, you know?"

"No, actually, I don't." She said scowling, biting the tip of her tongue with her pearly white teeth, trying to stop herself from tearing up about these thoughts.

"What's wrong?" He asked, finally looking her in the eye, noticing that she wasn't acting this way in purpose, which she usually was.

"Nothing. Really. I'm fine."

"Kairi-"

"No. Sora. It's okay. I'm okay. Really." She said, getting up from the spot she'd sat in for the past hour and a half. "I have to get going anyway." She finished, brushing some sand off from her body and waving him goodbye before heading off to her home.

"Someday Sora, someday you'll know for real." She said under her breath as she looked back at him, who was watching her walk away, dumbfounded at the fact that he'd known her so long, yet he couldn't figure out why she was acting this way.

_Someday… _

* * *

_A young woman sat next to a stone well, her hair falling down her back in a series of soft auburn curls, some fell into her face as she wrote on a small piece of parchment in the moonlight. Her feathered quill raced to put all the words down, stopping every now and then to capture more ink so she could continue, which occasionally dripped as if black tears were falling from her eyes. _

_When she finished she took the piece of parchment and folded it up into small square, and removed the chain that hung around her neck, it was an oval locket, in a dazzling silver, which made her look more pure with the pale and delicate features she was blessed with. _

_As she carefully placed the fresh parchment in the warm metal locket, she held back her tears forcefully, knowing she had to do this than suffer for the rest of her life. She gently placed the locket down and stood up on the edge of the well, facing backwards to the depths below, she took one last look in the direction of her town, where Sotiris also resided, and then looked up to the full moon. It was well past midnight on the fourteenth of February, and it was also those few moments where she bid the world goodbye and fell down backwards into the well's bottom below. _

* * *

Her breathing slowed down from its current heavy pace, she continued to lie there, staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering why she dreamed what she did. Being a resident of the islands, she had to know of the island's curse, and the fact that it was so close to the holiday-Valentine's Day to be exact- that it took place every fifteen years, didn't make her thoughts slow down as much as her breathing did.

She took hold of the tangled chain around her neck and fixed the pendent from being knotted up so bad from her frequent tossing and turning. She sat back in bed for a few moments and stared up at her ceiling, waiting until she was capable of getting out of bed. Yet, she still didn't know why she dreamed about this event, nor did she know what it was trying to tell her.

It wasn't before long when the phone rang; she absentmindedly drew out her arm and felt around her nightstand for the phone, watching the caller id flash "Unknown caller" repeatedly. She cleared her throat and pressed 'Talk.'

"Hello?" She said, she still sounded hoarse, well, that's what they get for calling right when she wakes up.

"Hey Kairi?" She heard, her violet eyes went wide.

"Sora?!" She questioned with excitement, a little _too much_ excitement.

"Yeah, I got a new cell; I'll give you the number later. Anyway, you 'wanna go down to the Center today?"

The Center, ironic, that's in the same area where the well is, a small plaza where several shops are squished together, and it was one of the busiest times of the year.

"Uh, sure. I have Pointe class at noon until two-" She started.

"Then I'll meet you in front of Sotiris Ave. around three?" He said.

"Sure. See you then." She bit her lip to restrain herself from doing anything she might regret.

"Okay. Bye."

Then he hung up. She put the phone down onto its charger and squealed with delight. Of course she wasn't supposed to be acting this way, he was one of her best friends after all. Yet she couldn't wonder why he invited her out of all people, and to the Center out of all places.

* * *

After she ate, showered, and dressed, she took her dance bag off of her bedpost and swung it over her shoulder. She looked in the mirror once more, and frowned upon herself, she was never one for making the best of what she had. Yet, she was still going to her favorite place in the world –her dance studio, and nothing could get better than that.

Until the last fifteen minutes of this one class, the entire time she was so excited for the next few hours, she was more focused on what she was doing that usual, everything seemed perfect. As soon as she mounted for a _pirouette_, she looked out the window to find something to keep her vision on, only to see Sora staring right back.

This of course, caused her to lose her balance and fall straight down, but once she got up she saw him smiling at her, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing there. She went to the farthest wall and faced the _barre_, so she couldn't see him as she practiced some more. She also silently thanked her instructor for giving them the last fifteen minutes of class free to do what you wanted, but she didn't like the fact that anybody could just walk in to a class as well.

"Nice fall." He smirked while she glared back.

"It was your face that made me do it."

"I don't understand how you can even walk on those things," He pointed to her pointe shoes, and she raised an eyebrow as she began to untie the silky pink ribbons, "let alone you dance on them…" he continued.

"It's called hard work, passion, and dedication, it comes from the heart. But you wouldn't understand that." She shoved her things into her bag and stood up.

"Understand what? Ballet?"

"No. My heart." She said swinging her bag over her shoulder, and beginning to walk away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He called after her, confused.

"Figure it out!" She yelled out, not even looking back. As much as she wanted to kick herself for what she just did, she hoped she left a puzzled boy behind. She hoped he'd finally understand not only her heart, but her.

* * *

She didn't know if he still wanted to meet her at the Center. Nor did she want to explain what se was feeling at the moment. What was it in a man's nature that made them so oblivious when a girl was in love with them? How much would it take, to just show him silently that she does care? That she loves hum more than he'll ever know? What would she have to do to just prove that to him?

She let off a sigh, staring out her window to the bitter February sky wasn't going to help her. She had to do something. But she still didn't know if he was going to be there. Why would he? After she just turned away from him so abruptly not too long ago.

It couldn't help to just go down there and see if he was waiting right? What was there to lose? If he wasn't, then she'd just have to go off somewhere, shop maybe, or just return back home. She couldn't be that cruel and leave the poor boy by himself for who knows how long.

But then her mind withered away as she sat back on the many plush pillows on her sleep. And she was once again consumed by the nightmarish thoughts of the curse.

His sapphire blue eyes darted across the entire length of Sotiris Avenue. He should've known that she wasn't going to come after what happened today. He still felt awkward about the entire situation, and he hadn't a clue what he was going to do about anything.

"Three freaking days." He sighed; starting to walk away from the pole he'd been leaning against for the last few minutes. Waiting. Waiting for her. Waiting for her to hear the truth. The truth that he'd kept to himself for so long.

He continued down the street, going through the noisy love-happy people everywhere. Was it a disease? Why every Valentine's Day people would go absolutely insane about the ones they love? Why was it that the people who were in love, made it seem to easy, but it made the people who couldn't be with their lover the most heartbroken people on this planet?

And why was it so hard to tell that one person that you love them, when you have no idea if they're going to feel the same way in return?

* * *

_It was in that moment, when his eyes looked upon the folded parchment, that he knew what happened to her. He stared down the well, all his emotions running through his head. Making it harder to realize that she was gone, and all that was left was this piece of parchment reminding him of her. And when he read it, he felt a piece of him die along with her. "Kailysta! Kai, can you hear me? Please, you can't die like this! You can't…" _

_It was then, he realized, that he loved her more than he imagined, and with one fateful jump into the abyss below, he followed her tragic death leaving only a locket with the fateful legacy behind. _

* * *

As much as she loved the view of the island and its cerulean ocean with a cloudy light blue sky, she hated the fact that every time she's look out the window, she'd see him. Well, the back of him anyway. She knew she should go down there and try to talk to him. But he probably wouldn't after yesterday.

"Why can't I go one day without making an idiot of myself?" She leant against the wall, her head thumped in the process. But she didn't flinch; it was her punishment, even though it made her lose a few brain cells in the process. It was like a ping-pong match in her head:

_"Tell him." _

_"Don't tell him." _

_"Don't be stupid! Just go over there!" _

_"No, leave him alone until this holiday is over!" _

This exhaustion just made her want to go back to sleep. Crawl underneath the covers and forget about everything. Her dreams can take over, make everything seem perfect and nothing could wake her up, for it was always much too quiet in this house.

She took another glance outside, she couldn't help it, she really couldn't. But to her surprise, the dark-haired, very tan boy wasn't out there anymore. Instead, the doorbell rang from downstairs. And she groaned in protest, it was probably him. But what was she supposed to say? Just talk to him like yesterday never happened? Was that even possible?

* * *

"Hey" He said to her as she opened the door, his eyes glittered in the sun's light.

She took in a small breath, moments away from closing the door in his face and running back upstairs. Instead, she just replied back, with a simple 'hi' and nothing more. She still had no idea what she was going to say about anything he was probably going to ask.

"About yesterday…-"

"Oh my gosh! I forgot to meet you at the Center!" She started, but he shook his head.

"No, before that."

"Oh, well, just forget it, I was probably delusional. Happens all the time." It wasn't until after she said it that she felt like a complete and utter fool. But she tried to hide her emotions from his view.

"Okay…well then. Want to meet me down there tomorrow?"

"Valentine's Day? Honestly Sora, that's the busiest day of the year."

"Nobody's going down there. They're too afraid of the curse, you know that." He furrowed his eyebrows when he said that, she was acting as if she hadn't lived here her entire life.

"Oh, yeah, right. Sure then, I'll meet you." The words came out of her mouth without her even thinking, she stared down at her feet, which were bare and painted a metallic purple, then looked back up at him, trying not to act so shy.

"Alright, see you later I guess…" He said awkwardly, sensing the tension between the two of them, before he turned away and left, he didn't wait for any goodbyes, he simply just returned to where he was before. Sitting on the beach with Riku, Tidus, and Wakka. She closed the door behind her back, slumping to the floor; her head tilted back sounding a small thump. _'Why? Why must I feel this way about him?' _

* * *

"Why don' you just tell her, ya?" The bright orange hair of Wakka was almost blinding to look at, until he stepped back underneath a cocoanut tree, shading himself so Sora could actually see him.

"Tell her what?" He said, trying not to make it as obvious.

"Dude, you know you like her, just tell her already, 'mon." His accent was always hard to understand, but Sora got the basic idea, he knew that he should tell her, but why was it this hard?

"He's a coward, that's all there is to it." Riku walked up to them, raising his eyebrows at Sora. "Everybody knows, except her. I wonder how that happened…" He looked down at him again, shaking his head.

"Weren't you just down there?" Tidus joined in as well, cocking his head to the side in question.

"I could've told her, I just didn't want to-"

"Because you wanted to tell her on the most overrated day of the year! Aww, how cute!" Riku mocked, making Sora angrier by the moment.

"So what? I can do what I want. I don't need you guys to tell me that." He stared up at the clear blue sky, until the silver-haired boy started kicking sand at him.

"C'mon Sora, if I was you, I'd' have gotten all of this over with."

"Yeah? Well you're not me now are you?"

* * *

She started brushing her auburn hair, wondering each second why he wanted to take her to the Center tomorrow_. 'He probably wants to tell me how much he likes this other girl, who'll never be me, and how he should approach her.'_ She tried not to let the jealousy take her over, besides, who else would he like?

Wait that was a stupid one…anyone but _her_. She always thought she never had a chance in the world. He always seemed to be distant, not dark-distant, just _strange_-distant; you could never tell what he was thinking. A mind reader probably couldn't sort through his thoughts without getting a headache. But this girl didn't get headaches, she got heartaches, and they got worse the more she saw him, and there isn't a cure. Well, not one that she can conjure up herself.

She sat on her bead and fell backwards onto the springy mattress, looking up at the ceiling; she tried to find an answer, but knew she would never find one. "Why? Why must I go through complete torture for one guy? Is anyone's love life as tragic as mine seems to be?" She pleaded to the skies above, even though she was looking up at a painted ceiling, knowing that it couldn't give her the response she wanted. She rolled over onto her stomach and smashed her face into a pillow; trying to make these thoughts disappear, trying to make everything disappear.

Trying to make herself disappear.

* * *

He picked up the phone and started dialing, then put the receiver back down. He did this a few times before knocking the phone right off the table. He let out a sigh and tried to think of what to say. "We'll meet around seven, or eight." He was talking to himself now. "Wait is that too late? How about six?" He stood up, almost tripping over the phone that was now making sounds from being off the hook for too long. "Stupid thing." He put it back on the desk, pondering if he should even call her.

All his friends wanted him to call her, talk to her, _tell her_.

"She's going to think I'm an idiot." Was all he could manage, but he picked up the phone anyway. He dialed, not realizing that he already pushed the seventh digit and it was ringing.

"Oh crap--"

"Hello?"

"Uh, hey! Hi. Is this Kairi?"

"Who do you think it is?"

"Oh, sorry. Remember what I said about tomorrow?"

"Yeah? I was going to call you and tell you after six I can meet you."

"Oh! Great! That's what I was going to tell you actually. How about eight?"

"Fine."

"Right. Okay. 'Bye!"

He hung up. Yeah, he definitely felt like an idiot now. But that was over with, so he sat back in his chair, and leaned over for the remote.

"A night of pre-Valentine's Day movies and shows. Just what I need."

* * *

It was almost seven, but she had nothing to wear for that eight o'clock date.

A crisis that puts every girl into an endless frantic is to find the perfect outfit for the perfect night. So she can remember that night many years from now, and say to herself, "That's when I wore…" And when she sees it in her drawer, she'll always remember that certain shirt, or those lucky jeans.

But that's what she needed. She had everything in her closet lined up, all sorted out by color, but she had her eyes on the pinks and reds. Between balancing a phone against her ear, and flipping through the same bunch of shirts over and over again. She just didn't know where to start.

"Selph! I just don't know what to do! It's Valentine's Day, but are those colors too cliché? Is a v-neck too much? I don't want to look bad!"

"Calm down! You'll look fine…it's just Sora."

Just Sora? Was this _really_ her best friend?

"But this is an occasion! I have no idea where we're even going!"

"If you're going to the Center, it's going to be cold. Wear that nice sweater of yours."

Kairi flipped through her closet, "The dark red one? With the hood?"

"Yeah, it's fitted, it's nice. Casual, but classy. Wear it."

"Okay! This will look great. What would I do with out you?"

"Not go on this date?"

"Probably! Alright, I have an hour; I'll call you later okay?"

"Yeah, bye!"

* * *

"First time buying roses, kid?" An older man was selling roses down at the Center, Sora was early just for this.

"Uh…no. I mean yes. I don't know what to get her..." He said, over whelmed by the excessive amount of choices in front of him.

He had a cart filled with every colored rose imaginable, bouquets, single flowers, not to mention chocolate and stuffed animals, all for the last minute shoppers who didn't know what to get. "Well, I think you should get a red one, they go pretty fast compared to the other colors."

"That won't be too…_romantic_…right?"

"It's Valentine's Day, kid! It's never too romantic." The man winked, and sent him on his way.

* * *

_She was walking away, her auburn red hair knotting as the wind tried to comb itself through her. Her eyes were lifeless and bloodshot but she continued on through the busy streets and tangles of grass effortlessly. She was possessed. She had no idea where she was or where she was going. Her mind was racing, trying to tell her body to stop but it wouldn't listen. She kept walking until she reached the town's wishing well, she stopped for a moment and took a breath, hearing the shout of a voice and the stomping of feet from a short distance. Her mind willed her to turn around, to look back, to see what it was, but her body propelled forward, and stepped onto the cold stone wall of the well. _

* * *

"Kairi! Wait! What are you doing?! Stop fooling around!" He yelled after her, cursing every time he lost his balance from a random stone or ditch in the grass. He didn't know why she wouldn't stop for him; didn't she know what she was doing? Was he not loud enough? He tried to yell her name once more, as loud as his lungs could manage without straining his vocal cords, but she still wouldn't stop.

He could feel the thorns from the rose stab through his flesh, but he did the best he could to ignore the tiny shocks of pain and reach toward her, to save her. His fingertips were inches away from her as she started to step up onto the low walls of the wishing well.

* * *

_"KAIRI!" She shook her head, snapping back to reality. She blinked a few times and tried to remember where she was, but her mind was an empty throbbing void. She tried to turn around to hear who was calling her, but she started to lose her balance, wobbling, still trying to figure out where she was, and then all she saw was black. _

And then she felt a sudden pull.

* * *

His heart was beating a thousand times a minute, but he used all of his strength to try and pull her out of the darkness below.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He tried to say it, but the words just wouldn't come out, he was too preoccupied with making sure Kairi wasn't hurt. Her clothes were dirty, her hair was tattered, but overall she seemed to be quite shaken and confused.

"Where am I?" Her voice was soft and innocent, as if she _really_ didn't know what was going on.

"You have no clue? You weren't totally aware of the fact that you were going to throw yourself down a well?" He quickly realized he sounded too harsh and wished he could take it back but it was too late.

She shook her head, "No…I really had no clue. It was like someone possessed me or something."

"Well, hopefully you're okay now." He smiled at her, and tried to put pressure on his bleeding hand.

"What happened? Are _you_ okay?" She started to inspect his hand to make sure the cuts weren't too deep.

"I'm fine," he pulled back his arm and reached over for the rose that fallen onto the ground. "I got you this, it looks a little bent now though…" He said frowning.

"No, it's beautiful.' She smiled brightly and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, for everything Sora, I probably wouldn't have lived if it weren't for you."

"I probably wouldn't have lived if it weren't for _you_." He said softly, and pulled her close so this time, history wouldn't repeat itself.


End file.
